Shelter

by Tara Shuler

  “Oh, okay,” I nodded. “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise,” he said.

  I had no idea where Kai was taking me, but it didn’t matter much. I was glad to be away from that horrible party and all of those loud, irritating people. In fairness, none of them had actually done anything to me. I just didn’t like being around big crowds like that – especially humans. I still didn’t understand them very well, and large groups of them were intimidating.

  As we drove, it occurred to me that I wasn’t as hungry as I had been earlier. I wondered if maybe something about Kai was putting me at ease, because I didn’t want to rip his throat out the way I did the other humans.

  It wasn’t long until Kai pulled into the parking lot of what appeared to be a very small old church. He turned off the car and got out, and I obligingly followed suit. He walked up the steps to the front door and jingled his keys, fumbling in the darkness. He finally inserted the correct key into the padlock that held the chain around the doors, and the chain fell to the ground.

  Kai pushed open the doors and walked inside. I paused for a moment, looking up at the giant wooden cross atop the belfry. I shuddered. I’d never been inside a church before, and it felt strange. I followed him meekly through the doors.

  In the darkness, I could see clearly that this church was very old. It was tiny. There didn’t seem to be any electricity, or any even any electrical devices. There was a small podium at the front, and two columns of six pews. Near the podium sat a dusty, old upright piano.

  Kai strode over to a candelabrum near the piano and lit it with a lighter he pulled from his pocket. The candlelight flickered and cast glittering golden points of light over the piano.

  “Would you play for me?” he asked. “The piano might be out of tune. No one has played it in years.”

  I was a bit startled. I wasn’t prepared to play for anyone. In fact, the only people who’d ever heard me play were my mother and my brother, my piano teacher, my tutor, and a few of my family’s servants. Still, he’d brought me all the way here to hear me play.

  Kai brushed a thick layer of dust away from the piano bench with his hand, and then he blew some more dust off the lid that covered the keys of the piano. He stepped back and waited for me to take a seat.

  I sat down and opened the lid, pushing it back behind the keys. I thought for a moment, unsure what to play. I knew dozens of pieces, but I wasn’t really sure what he’d like to hear.

  “What should I play?” I asked him.

  “What is your favorite piece?” he asked me.

  I thought for a moment. I had several songs I really enjoyed, but there was one in particular that I loved more than all others. My fingers paused over the keys. I was worried that the piano would be out of tune and I would sound terrible. I gingerly played a few arpeggios, and they all sounded fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. After another deep, cleansing breath, I began to play.

  The melody was melancholy. I still hear it in my mind like a haunting dream when I think of that night. “Moonlight Sonata” had always been the song I turned to whenever I was feeling lonely, and now I played it for Kai as if I was telling him how alone I always felt. I was drawn deeply into the song as I played, and for a few moments, I forgot that I wasn’t alone. I knew the whole song, but the first movement was my favorite. It was so gloomy and deep.

  As I completed the song, I looked around. At first, I didn’t see Kai. Then I noticed him sitting in the front pew with his feet up, leaning his back against the armrest at the end by the aisle.

  “Moonlight Sonata,” he acknowledged quietly.

  “Yes,” I agreed, impressed that he knew the song. “It’s my favorite.”

  Most vampires my age listened to contemporary music, and even a lot of the older vampires had stopped listening to classical music decades ago. From what I knew of human teenagers, their appreciation for classical music seemed about as strong as their appreciation for liver or lima beans. In other words, it was virtually non-existent.

  “Please,” he asked solemnly, “play more.”

  I thought for a moment, and I decided to play something a little more exciting. It was a piece I’d spent months practicing when I first began to learn it, and it was years before I could play it without making major mistakes. From what my piano teacher told me, it was one of the hardest pieces to play. Most of her students never mastered it.

  As I began the opening notes to “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2” by Franz Liszt, I noticed I was not anxious like I normally was when I played the piece. It is a difficult song, and at around ten minutes long at my preferred tempo, it was also exhausting. This time, the song flowed from the end of my fingertips and onto the keys like water flowing over rocks in a river. It was inexplicable, but I felt completely comfortable playing for the first time since I was a young child.

  My fingers danced over the keys as I played the song, and the glow from the candelabrum was so warm I could almost feel it on my skin in the crisp, cool air of the church. I abandoned every other thought, and I just let the song flow forth. I hadn’t noticed, but I closed my eyes a few moments into the song and I played by touch alone. This song was so much a part of me that I did not need to see the keys. I knew every finger movement by heart.

  At the end of the piece, I didn’t feel drained as I usually did when I played it. I felt energized – alive. I looked over at Kai, and he appeared to be mesmerized. He did not speak; he just looked at me.

  At once, I became a little self-conscious. I cleared my throat, and I stood up. Kai just watched me as I stepped away from the piano. I looked back at it, trying to turn my eyes away from Kai. His pale eyes seemed to be burning into me, and it was difficult to look at him. Why did he stare at me so intently?

  “Please,” he finally said. “Sit with me.”

  He beckoned me over by motioning toward the pew, and I picked my way across the floor to sit at the other end of the pew. He did not seem to be bothered by the fact that I sat as far away from him as I could. I had never been alone with a human, and I was terrified of what I might do to him if the hunger overcame me. He just kept looking at me with those intense blue eyes. Again, he cocked his head to the side as he looked at me – apparently still trying to figure me out.

  I sighed and absently brushed a piece of lint off my pants. I didn’t know what to say or do. I felt uneasy, and I thought perhaps I should go play something else. I had felt so comfortable while I was playing, and now the feelings of insecurity and awkwardness had come rushing back in. Were all humans so terribly befuddling?

  “Enchanting,” Kai said suddenly.

  “What?” I asked, confused.

  “The music,” he clarified. “When you play, it is absolutely enchanting.”

  I blushed and looked down at my hands, which twisted nervously in my lap.

  “I have heard those songs a thousand times before, but when you play them they sound different somehow,” he told me. “I can’t explain it.”

  I didn’t know what to say. It was a compliment, but it didn’t seem like something I should thank him for saying.

  “What time do you have to be home?” he asked me.

  “I don’t have a curfew,” I told him.

  He raised one eyebrow at me quizzically. I guess it was unusual for a seventeen-year-old girl to have no curfew. I had never had one. After all, vampires love the night, and my mother knew I could easily defend myself. Even as a young child, I could have overtaken an adult human male with no effort whatsoever. If he was shocked, he did not say so.

  “Do you want to go to the beach?” he asked me out of the blue.

  “The beach?” I mumbled. “I’ve never been.”

  “Never been to the beach?” he questioned. “But it’s only a few miles from here.”

  “I know,” I said uncomfortably. “I’ve… just never been.”

  The beach isn’t exactly a place vampires typically go. We sunburn so easily, and we’re not fond of exposing our pale sk
in in swimsuits. It had never even occurred to me to go. We don’t turn to smoldering ash in the sunlight like the legends say, but our skin is especially sensitive to it.

  “Well, let’s go,” Kai said, standing up.

  “I… I should at least call home,” I stammered nervously.

  “I thought you didn’t have a curfew,” he stated.

  “I don’t, but I should let them know where I’m going,” I shot back.

  Kai took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to me. Obviously, he was not going to let me get out of this trip to the beach. I sighed, and I dialed the phone. A few moments later, Will answered.

  “Will? It’s me,” I said. “I’m going to hang out with a friend for a while. I’ll be home late.”

  “Uh… okay,” Will said. He was obviously confused. I had no curfew, and I never called when I was out late. The “friend” thing should have surprised him, but either it didn’t, or he just didn’t let on.

  “I just wanted to let you and Mother know,” I told him.

  “Thanks?” he boggled.

  “See you later,” I said.

  I quickly hung up the phone. I’m sure Will was staring down at the phone like some crazy person had just called him. That was completely out of character for me, and he had to know something was up. I don’t even know why I called. Maybe I was stalling.

  Kai blew out the candles and closed the lid over the piano keys, and then he locked up the church. We got into his car and headed toward the beach. I’d lived in Savannah, Georgia my entire life, but I’d never been anywhere near the beach.

  As we drove, I got curious about the church. How, exactly, did Kai have the keys to this little old church? I didn’t think it was any of my business, but I was dying to know.

  “Kai,” I started. “I was wondering something about the church…”

  He cut me off. “You wanted to know why I have keys to it?”

  “Well, yes,” I admitted, hoping I wasn’t overstepping any boundaries.

  “My great grandfather used to be the pastor,” he explained. “The church has been in the family ever since it closed after he died.”

  “Oh,” I said, hanging my head in solemn reverence.

  “No one ever goes there but me,” he said.

  “Why do you go there?” I asked him.

  “Privacy,” he answered. “It’s the only place I know of where I can be absolutely certain I won’t be bothered.”

  “I see,” I said. “I have a place like that, myself.”

  “Really?” he asked. “Would you take me there sometime?”

  Whoa! I barely knew this guy and he was asking me to take him to the only place where I had any privacy at all. I felt a little invaded, but then I realized he’d just taken me to his private place. I was still a little befuddled as to why. We’d just met a couple of hours earlier. Still, our garden at home was my own private oasis. My mother and I were the only ones who ever went there, and it was rare when she went.

  We stopped by a gas station and Kai picked up two bottles of water. He handed me one. I hadn’t thought about it, but I was actually very thirsty. The dust in the church made my throat scratchy, and the dryness reminded me of how long it had been since I had human blood. I thanked him.

  When we got to Tybee Island, I noticed the place seemed deserted. I didn’t see anyone in the streets, and most of the shops were closed. It wasn’t all that late, but everything seemed dead.

  “Why is it so dead here?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s near the end of the tourist season, but there are usually quite a few stragglers hanging out during the off season.”

  He stopped the car in the parking lot of a small restaurant, and he reached into the trunk for a blanket. He took off his boots and socks and tossed them into the trunk, waiting, apparently, for me to do the same. I obliged.

  We followed the road between what appeared to be two hotels, and moments later we were standing on the sand dunes near a large pier with a pavilion at the end. The sand felt warm and soft between my toes, and I was instantly struck by the sharp, briny scent of the ocean air. We walked out onto the beach, and I was awestruck by the intense beauty of the ocean in the moonlight. My eyes widened, and my jaw went slack.

  “It’s incredible, isn’t it?” he asked, noticing my expression.

  “That doesn’t begin to describe it,” I whispered, barely able to speak.

  The moon was huge and nearly filled the sky beyond the horizon. Its reflection shone over the black sea, sending sparkling moonlight over the waves like millions of glittering diamonds. The air smelled crisp and salty, and I could detect a slight seafood-like scent. It was intoxicating.

  Kai spread out a blanket when we neared the surf. He sat down, and he beckoned me to do the same. The blanket was small, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be sitting so close to a human, afraid of what I might do. My mother and my brother rarely even saw me sitting so close to them. Still, I didn’t want to seem rude. I sat beside him, pulling my knees up in front of my and wrapping my arms around them – a kind of protective mechanism, I guess.

  Kai stretched his legs out, letting his feet rest in the sand. A breeze picked up, and I noticed Kai’s long hair fluttering around his face out of the corner of my eye. I was starting to become a little annoyed with myself. I had to admit, I was a little attracted to him.

  Okay, in truth I was intensely attracted to him. Not only was he beautiful, but there was something so captivating about his personality. He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met, though admittedly I’d actually met very few people. Were all humans so interesting? No. Van and Zach certainly weren’t.

  “Do you come here often?” I asked him.

  “Only at night,” he answered.

  “Why only at night?” I quizzed him curiously.

  “It’s the only time you can see the moon on the water like this,” he replied. “Plus, I don’t like the crowds that are here in the daytime. At night, there are usually very few people around.”

  That made sense. I hated crowds, too. This seemed much more peaceful than a whole beach full of screaming kids and sun-tanning folks. It was nice. I was sad that I had never been before.

  “I like it,” I whispered.

  “What?” Kai asked.

  “This place,” I answered. “It’s amazing.”

  “Yeah,” Kai agreed.

  It must have been at least twenty minutes before either of us spoke again. We just sat and listened to the roar of the waves crashing against the shore, watching the moonlight sparkle on the surf, and feeling the ocean breeze through our hair. I finally became comfortable enough to stretch out my legs, and I loved the way the sand felt between my toes.

  Suddenly, my tummy growled. That was a terribly inopportune time for it to happen, because I was really enjoying the moment. The sound of my stomach grumbling in hunger was not only disturbing – it was a little embarrassing.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “I am,” I admitted, hanging my head in shame. I couldn’t tell him what it was I really wanted to eat.

  “Me, too,” he said. “Why don’t we head back to my place and grab something to eat?”

  I frowned. I didn’t like the thought of leaving this wondrous place and going back to that noisy party.

  “We don’t have to go inside,” he said. “I have snacks in the shed.”

  “Oh, thank goodness,” I breathed a sigh of relief.

  We were both pretty quiet on the way back to Kai’s house. On the way, I began to wonder about the story regarding my father’s death. It hadn’t even occurred to me all night that my mother had just told me hours earlier that my father had died at Kai’s house. Suddenly, it was all I could think of.

  “What’s wrong?” Kai asked, apparently picking up on my change in mood.

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  I turned my head to look out the car window. I watched buildings flash by as we drove – a welcome distraction fro
m my curiosity. Kai must have sensed my discomfort, so he switched on the stereo. He had an MP3 player hooked up, and while we were stopped at a red light, he flicked through his playlists and chose one he was sure I would like.

  The familiar sound of “Für Elise” began to play, and it instantly relaxed me. There was something about classical music that always comforted me, and I admit that I was more than a little surprised that Kai had a classical music playlist. Now I was curious about what else he liked to listen to.

  I eyeballed his MP3 player, longing to take a peek at his playlists, but I didn’t want to intrude. Admittedly, I would be rather annoyed if someone I just met started snooping through my music without asking.

  Suddenly, I blurted out, “Can I look at your playlists?”

  Kai glanced at me and gave me a crooked smile.

  “Be my guest,” he said.

  I picked up the player and started nosing around through his music. He had two different playlists with classical music. One was mostly classical piano – my personal favorite. The other had a lot of orchestral compositions, some of which I wasn’t even familiar with. I’d never really listened to symphonies much.

  He also had a playlist full of nineties hair metal. That was interesting. My brother had a thing for that stuff, too. I enjoyed some of it. I certainly didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t my favorite.

  Another playlist contained a bunch of love songs – mostly stuff from the seventies and eighties. I wasn’t too familiar with human males, obviously, but it did occur to me that it seemed unusual that a guy would have a bunch of romantic music on his MP3 player. Then again, Kai seemed anything but ordinary. He was nothing like the human guys I’d seen on television or in movies.

  That was it as far as playlists. It was a lot like my own. My computer at home had a grand total of six playlists. Five of them were classical piano playlists – each one created to fit a certain mood. The final playlist was mostly eighties music. I picked up a taste for it while watching those cheesy eighties movies. I don’t know why, but those movies really stuck a chord with me. Probably because they portray social awkwardness – a feeling I was painfully aware of.

  When Kai pulled up to the curb and parked, the party had broken up. It was only eleven-thirty, so it seemed unusual that everyone was gone. Kai suggested things got boring so people headed out, but something didn’t seem quite right about it. He didn’t bother pulling into the garage.